Farmers censure govt for buying wheat from traders
In response to the heat wave in Pakistan, hybrid wheat can continue to grow at a high temperature of 40°C. Photo: file
The Sindh Abadgar Ittehad (SAI), has accused the Sindh government of buying wheat from the traders instead of growers in sheer violation of the law and that too at a time when the government's procurement target is around 20% of the provincial harvest.
SAI, a group lobbying for rights of farmers, in its meeting on Monday, chaired by its President Nawaz Zubair Talpur, asked the government to immediately desist from that exercise and to ensure transparency in the wheat procurement.
The Sindh Food and Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro had informed last month that the province is likely to produce a bumper wheat crop of over four million tons while the government's buying target was only 900,000 tons. The Ittehad demanded that the gunny sacks should only be given to genuine farmers in compliance with the law.
The growers said the traders buy wheat from them at a lower price and sale the same at a much higher price to the government. The wheat procurement price was set at Rs4,000 per 40 kilograms for a second consecutive year.
The farmers also called for enhancing the support price of cotton to Rs12,000 per 40kg, pointing out that higher cost of cultivation has made the crop which is indispensable for the textile industry as unprofitable. They said if the growers do not get due profit for their labour and investments they will switch to other crops and the move will create further shortage of cotton in the country.
In such a scenario the textile sector will have to import cotton and by doing so further burden will be added to ailing foreign exchange reserves of the country. The meeting deplored that despite a clear ban on rice cultivation in certain districts of the province many influential farmers are growing rice in the banned districts with the official connivance.
The farmers denounced rampant alleged corruption in Sindh Seed Corporation and demanded that the department should be closed because it is neither conducting research on seeds or producing seeds nor any transparency is being maintained in utilization of funds. They blamed the government officials for embezzling funds from Rs4 billion which were earmarked for wheat subsidy.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 16th, 2024.